Scotch whisky

“ In Scotland whisky is the universal ichor and panacea. In Ireland a kind of whisky which is unquestionably whisky, but not Scotch, stands in the same friendly relation to the people. In England we drink both kinds, lying thus between the devil and the deep sea. There cannot be the slightest doubt that the baser sorts of whisky are Scotch, and that the primal, more edifying and more inspiring sorts—if we only knew it—are Irish. He who drinks beer thinks beer. He who drinks whisky thinks whisky. ”

“ Scotland and the number of whisky-sodden persons in Ireland stand in the ratio of ten to one. In Scotland the red nose and the pimply face abound. Outside that fearsome area known as the Diamond, there is scarcely a red nose or a pimply face in all Ireland. All the best Scotch whisky is produced in legitimate distilleries, and all the best Irish whisky, with due respect, of course, to Dunville, Jamieson et hoc genus, comes out of little places which are unbeknownst to the King’s officers of Excise. ”

“ This time its flavour was not port but whisky—Scotch whisky. The old gentleman was delighted with Arthur and his experiments. Although an abstainer he had three helpings. This was very pleasing to Enderby, as the uncle was a man of considerable wealth. But he was not at all satisfied with his son's explanations, and he thought he recognised the whisky. Although an abstainer while the War is on, Enderby keeps a very good cellar, and when he came to look into things he found that Arthur had been pumping his finest '60 port and old matured Scotch whisky into the vegetable marrows. ”

“ We are tolerably loyal in this our time; still it is problematical if there exist man or woman in Merry England, in our day who would whisk a mixture for sixty minutes by the clock, even with the prospect of drinking to the reigning monarch.
Brandy Sour.
This is simplicity itself. A teaspoonful of sifted sugar in a small tumbler, a little lemon rind and juice, one wine-glassful of brandy. Fill nearly up with crushed ice, shake and strain. Whisky Sour is merely Scotch whisky treated in the same kind, open-handed manner, with the addition of a few drops of raspberry syrup. ”

“ Scotch banking is getting more into vogue, and is trenching on the originally Scotch organised Bank of England. Scotch cakes, Scotch shortbread, Scotch gingerbread, Edinburgh buns, and Selkirk bannocks, Scotch whisky, ale, salmon, herrings, haddocks, and oats, maintain their accustomed supremacy. Scotch plaids and tartans are in the windows of every clothier, draper, and tailor's shop; and you scarcely meet a smart female in the streets without some part at least of her person being decorated in tartan array. ”

“ The respondent, a Kentucky producer of distilled spirits, is also the sole distributor in the United States of 'Gilbey's Spey Royal' Scotch whisky. This whisky is produced in Scotland and is shipped via the ports of Chicago or New Orleans directly to the respondent's bonded warehouses in Kentucky. It is subsequently sold by the respondent to customers in domestic markets throughout the United States. ”

“ Many of our most eminent journalists, legal luminaries, and successful merchants have been patrons of the Old Cheshire Cheese in the days when it was to them club, discussion forum, and even home.”
The “Cheese” bar resembles no other in London. The customers are unique, and the names of their drinks are peculiar. The simplest and amplest is “whisky,” and that means Scotch whisky. No old customer of the “Cheese” would ever think of asking for “Scotch.” If anyone dares to say “Scotch,” he is marked down at once as one not yet inured to the ways of the bar. ”

“ Ingredients, one pint of white currants, stripped of their stalks, the thin rind of a lemon, one teaspoonful of essence of ginger, and one bottle of old Scotch whisky. Let the mixture stand for forty-eight hours, and then strain through a hair sieve. Add one pound of loaf sugar, which will take at least a day to thoroughly dissolve. Then bottle off, and cork well. It will be ready for use in three months, but will keep longer.
Bitters.
One ounce of Seville orange-peel, half an ounce of gentian root, a quarter of an ounce of cardamoms. Husk the cardamoms, and crush them with the gentian root. ”

“ It is well known that most of the Scotch and Irish Distilleries, in addition to the interest they awaken as important sources of commercial interest, are invested with no ordinary attractions, by their picturesque surroundings and the magnificent country in which they are planted. ”

“ Like poor relations in general, they were a dreadful drag, and it was necessary to contribute to their support by putting fresh burdens on the British people. Among these was a tax on malt, which, being extended to Scotland, caused a general fermentation; for the Scotch were always remarkable for their love of whisky, which they easily promoted into a love of liberty, when it suited at once their pocket and their purpose to assume the attitude of patriots. ”

“ Irish Pot-still Whisky.—Both as regards the raw material employed and the manner of manufacture, Irish pot-still whisky differs very appreciably from the Scotch variety. There are a few distillers who work with malted barley only, but the great majority employ a mixture of from (generally) 25 to 50% of malted barley and 50 to 75% of a mixed grist of "raw" (i.e. unmalted) rye, wheat, barley and oats. The malt is not peat cured. The distillation is carried out in a type of still radically different from the Scotch pot-still. ”

“ When Paradise our friends did tyne,
Because something ran in their min',
Forbid, like Highland whisky, O.
Come a' ye powers o' Music, come!
I find my heart grows unco glum,
My fiddle-strings will not play bum,
To say fareweel to whisky, O.
I'll tak my fiddle in my hand,
And screw the strings up while the'll stand,
To mak a lamentation grand.
On good auld Highland whisky, O.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago. ”

“ It is to this peat drying that the so-called smoky flavour of most Scotch pot-still whisky is due. The malt is mashed in a mash-tun on lines similar to those obtaining in the brewery, except that the mashing heats are somewhat different. They should be so regulated as to obtain the maximum yield consistent with the preservation of the proper flavour. In order to obtain as high a yield as possible four separate mashes are as a rule made with the same lot of grist, the temperature of each successive mash being somewhat higher than that preceding it. ”

“ In any case you will always be able to get a good bottle of claret, bearing the name of some first-class Bordeaux firm, such as Johnson, Barton Guestier, or Luze, etc. If you are lucky enough to obtain a glass of genuine old Armagnac, you will probably rank it, as a liqueur, very nearly as high as any cognac you have ever tasted.
A word of warning! Don't be too eager to order whisky and soda. The "Scotch" is not of uniform quality.
So much for eatables and drinkables. A few hints now as to where you might care to lunch or dine. ”

“ Mixed drinks are entirely unknown. The sherry cobbler, the mint julep, the fragrant cock-tail, are never heard of in regular English bars, but the drouthy man who drinks, and they all do, takes either brandy or Scotch or Irish whisky, raw from a barrel, and swallows his portion and walks away satisfied. One woman in a famous drinking place was taught by an American to make cock-tails, and the fame of the mixture drew all the Americans to this particular place. The proprietor was sore displeased at this trade, and raised the price two pence above what was regular, to keep it away. ”

“ After the United States Government got fairly started, the Congress in 1791 imposed a tax of seven cents per gallon on whisky. This made a great disturbance among the frontier settlers of Pennsylvania, who were largely Scotch-Irish, the population west of the Kittatinny to the Ohio River being then estimated at seventy thousand. They had no market for their grain, but they made it into whisky, which found ready sale. A horse could carry two kegs of eight gallons each on the bridle paths across the mountains, and it was worth a dollar a gallon in the east. ”

“ The odious exciseman, with his portentous book in one hand, his unrelenting pen held in the other, or stuck beneath his hat-band, and the ink-bottle (‘black emblem of the informer’) dangling from his waist-coat-button—went not then from ale-house to ale-house, denouncing all those patriotic dealers in spirit, who preferred selling whisky, which had nothing to do with English laws (but to elude them,) to retailing that poisonous liquor, which derived its name from the British “parliament,” that compelled its circulation among a reluctant people. ”

“ In Charleston there has been in progress all day a huge whisky fair. The air is filled with the tintinnabulation of the auction bells and with the cries of the auctioneer; in dozens of liquor stores are crowds of free-born American citizens buying whisky, wine and beer to lay in a stock against the dry spell, which sets in to-night. In the fashionable groceries extra forces of clerks have been at work day and night for a week, putting up demi-johns and kegs of whisky, brandy, rum, gin, and wine ”

“ The whisky of Utah Territory, unlike the Monongahela or rye of Pennsylvania, and the Bourbon, or maize brandy of Kentucky, is distilled from wheat only; it is, in fact, the korn schnapps of the trans-Rhenine region. This “Valley Tan,” being generally pure, is better than the alcohol one part and water one part, colored with burnt sugar and flavored with green tea, which is sold under the name of Cognac. Ale and cakes are in higher flavor than the “villainous distillation:” there are two large and eight small breweries in which a palatable Lager-bier is made. ”

“ There are none of the graceful flavours, none of the delicate ethers, none of the perfumed bouquets in whisky that belong to a wholesome wine. No, there is only the coarse spirit which benumbs the palatal nerves, and renders them incapable of picking out these vinous attributes. Moreover, it would almost seem that a person’s very thoughts are controlled by his customary beverage. ”

“ It is disgusting also to see the scenes of domestic society and seclusion thrown open to the gaze of the curious and the vulgar, to hear their coarse speculations and brutal jests upon the fashions and furniture to which they are unaccustomed,—a frolicsome humour much cherished by the whisky which in Scotland is always put in circulation on such occasions. ”

“ When such drugs as cocculus Indicus, opium, tobacco, &c. &c. are used for giving a stupifying quality to the beer, every brewer using them must know, that besides subjecting himself to heavy penalties, he is doing gross injustice to the public.
It is generally supposed that the finest ale cannot be brewed without flavouring matter. This, however, is quite a mistake. The flavour of the finest Burton, Scotch, and other ales, proceeds chiefly from the care taken in selecting the best malt and hops, and the high gravities of the worts. ”

“ In Great Britain, the largest amount of whisky is made in Scotland and Ireland; in the United States, the principal supply comes from the States of Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky (Bourbon Co.) , and Pennsylvania (Monongahela Co.) . The grains taken differ greatly in composition. In Scotland and Ireland, malted barley (pure, or mixed with other grain) is extensively employed; in the preparation of Bourbon, partially malted corn and rye are taken, while, for Monongahela whisky, only rye (with 10 per cent. of malt) is used. ”

“ The whisky sold at threepence for each small wine-glassful in most of the country spirit shops in Ireland, and always taken neat by the natives, is of a most injurious character, being new, and consequently containing much fusel oil. Far be it from us to say a word against good, well-matured whisky, which, taken in moderation, is a most wholesome drink; but, good or bad, it is not the drink for working men who require a more sustaining and less expensive liquor. What have the total abstainers to suggest? ”

“ Ask what it [Pg 198] means, and you will be told it is such and such a distillery calling its hands to breakfast. Ask how many hands they have, and you may find that one establishment has some sixty or seventy men who eat their food! The whisky trade is simply enormous. It is out of all proportion to every other trade. The women as a rule do not drink, the men do all the drinking—the males I should say, for not a few boys acquire the habit of taking whisky to their meals long before they can be called men. A very few men do not use whisky at all. ”

“ I consider it infinitely worse than any ever manufactured out of tobacco-juice, Cayenne pepper, and whale-oil at Port Townsend, Washington Territory, where the next worst whisky in the world is used as the common beverage of the inhabitants. ”

“ Now, there is an old saying, DE GUSTIBUS NON EST DISPUTANDUM, and consequently every person has a perfect right to like what pleases him; so that in this way anyone may prefer to drink whisky, or any other form of spirits, and he is quite entitled to believe there is nothing so good for him; but, on the other hand, an habitual spirit-drinker must not claim to possess a correct judgment in estimating the qualities of a good wine; for, as a matter of fact, the daily influence of whisky on the palate is absolutely fatal to its delicacy of perception. ”

“ I expected naething but melted brimstone, said to be the staple drink o' your dominions. But is it really whisky? It's surely impossible—if the circumstance got wind aboon, that there was whisky in these parts, there wad be nae keepin folk out. How dinna ye spread the intelligence? Surely ye're no sae keen for recruits as ye were when ye danced awa wi' the exciseman."
"It is already known on earth that whisky was first brewed in Pandemonium," said the actor. "The nectar belongs to heaven, the wine to earth, and the whisky to the infernal regions. ”